Worse For Wear
by The Imaginative Light
Summary: Puss finds himself in a new city afar from Spain, separated from his love, Kitty after a quarrel upon a Mexican merchant's ship. Wounded, he must find Kitty Softpaws before a new enemy finds her first.


All there was, was an husky yell before the cheering had begun. The firecrackers speckled the cobble streets before the old cathedral, La Parroquia while the mexican party-goers took over the roads. Horse carts raced through the narrow roads towards Parroquia as skull puppets danced on top of them. Not only was it people enjoying the festivities of the Day of the Dead, but one creature sat on the old sill of one of the shop windows.

San Miguel De Allende, in the heart of dry lands of Mexico was where he found himself when he was locked in a prickly pear crate.

He set his dusty fedora aside and sighed as he rested on the sill, like how any feline would relax. A ginger hitman. How did he happen here? Across seas and yet, it seemed like he was back in San Ricardo once again. It all happened so quickly and so awkwardly. Yet, getting upon that ship to run and to escape from getting shot was a big mistake, but he hardly made that many mistakes. This place was not home, but it sure did make him return to those memories. As he rested, his shifty green eyes looked upon the regal and ancient building that rang every third of an hour. It shot to the sky like a mountain. Then he gazed down to the roads where the city was in a hussle for this not-so-melancholy celebration. Indeed, it was a day of honor but he could not help but grab onto the sadness of losing his closest friend. That poor egg may had made bad choices against him, but Puss still missed him. It had been a full year since the golden egg endeavor.

Perhaps, if it were not for Humpty, Puss would have never had met Kitty. Yet, she was lost two months ago before his grand battle with the Spanish port guards. He was starting to believe that she fled from him.

_He nearly had his paw cut off when the blade was chopped down against him. He saw blood spill on the wood, unknowing at first that it was his blood. Being quick, he retrieved his rapier and parried away, using his light weight to gain access to the ship. _

"_Kitty!" he called in worry._

_Despite that his paw was hurt, he ran fast on fours when he found her trying to hold on to the railing._

"_Puss!" he heard her cry, trying to use her declawed paws to try to hold on. "I can't –"_

_Puss made it to her in time and caught her paw just as she slipped. _

"_Aye! Gotcha!" he strained before she gazed up at him. "Hang on, Kitty! Hang on for me!" he begged as he tried to pull her up, but his cut paw hurt. "Agh…."_

"_Puss! I thought you fled…" Kitty gaped as she tried to help him by climbing._

"_I would never leave you behind, Kitty. I love you." Puss gently told her._

_Right when he got her safely back up, a pistol was aimed at the ginger's head._

"_We have you now, Puss in Boots! You have nowhere to go!"_

_The two cats looked at each other. Kitty then sprinted away as Puss slid away from the guards. The pistol was shot and nearly hit him as he hid behind the mast. Kitty was still on the railing before she climbed up the shroud. But before she could swing down to save her beloved, a bullet shot through a piece of the shroud. The force made her fall and land on the deck._

"_Kitty!" she heard Puss yell before a fishing net landed on top of her._

"_NO!" Puss cried trying to get to her, but someone stepped hard on his tail._

_In pain, he looked up behind him to find a blade about to be lunged at him. In a desperate attempt, Puss yanked his tail free and ran as the blade struck the plume off his hat. Puss then fell upon the pile of net to find that Kitty was not underneath it. _

"_Kitty?" Puss stammered before he felt a force yank on his scruff hard. _

Shaking it off for the present, Puss had decided to get to work. He was in need of food and shelter and hopefully, the people here had no clue of his past records. He had to hide his effects though. They were dead give-aways. Hiding in that merchant ship like a stray brought him to this place where he least expected to remember so much. Giving an incoherent purr, Puss felt a twinge in his right paw and there he saw a line of fur missing of where a scar was. His wrist was becoming bothersome again. It made it hard to fight nowadays, but he bore through the pain. Now, to get down and scavenge. Hopefully, his paw would be kind this time around.


End file.
